Philip Seymour Hoffman found dead at age 46: police

CaptionFour arrested in connection with Philip Seymour Hoffman's death

Multiple reports claim four people have been arrested in connection with Philip Seymour Hoffman's death as the actor's friends and colleagues pay their respects in New York.

Multiple reports claim four people have been arrested in connection with Philip Seymour Hoffman's death as the actor's friends and colleagues pay their respects in New York.

CaptionActor Philip Seymour Hoffman to be buried In private funeral

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was found dead in his New York apartment on Sunday in an apparent heroin overdose, will be buried in a private funeral service, the late Oscar-winner's representative said on Tuesday.

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was found dead in his New York apartment on Sunday in an apparent heroin overdose, will be buried in a private funeral service, the late Oscar-winner's representative said on Tuesday.

CaptionPhilip Seymour Hoffman withdrew $1,200 in cash day before death

Philip Seymour Hoffman made multiple cash withdrawls from a supermarket ATM -- totaling $1200 -- the day before his death ... this according to law enforcement sources.

Philip Seymour Hoffman made multiple cash withdrawls from a supermarket ATM -- totaling $1200 -- the day before his death ... this according to law enforcement sources.

CaptionVideo: Death sends shockwaves from NY to L.A

Phillip Seymour Hoffman¿s Death Sends Shockwaves From New York To L.A.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman¿s Death Sends Shockwaves From New York To L.A.

CaptionPhilip Seymour Hoffman's body is carried out in a gurney outside his NYC apartment.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's body was seen wheeled out of his Lower Manhattan apartment building in a gurney by the Coroners on Sunday night. The 46 year old Oscar winning actor reportedly died of a heroin drug overdose the night before. His body was found ea

Philip Seymour Hoffman's body was seen wheeled out of his Lower Manhattan apartment building in a gurney by the Coroners on Sunday night. The 46 year old Oscar winning actor reportedly died of a heroin drug overdose the night before. His body was found ea

NEW YORK -- Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the leading actors of his generation and winner of an Academy Award for his title role in the film "Capote," was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Sunday in what a New York police source described as an apparent drug overdose.

Hoffman, 46, was discovered unresponsive on the bathroom floor of his Greenwich Village apartment by police responding to a 911 call, and Emergency Medical Service workers declared him dead on the scene, New York City police said in a statement. An investigation was under way.

A police spokesman said investigators found Hoffman with a syringe in his arm and recovered two small plastic bags in the apartment containing a substance suspected of being heroin. A police department source earlier told Reuters that Hoffman had died of an apparent drug overdose.

Hoffman, who is survived by three children with his partner Mimi O'Donnell, had detailed his struggles with substance abuse in the past.

"We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil and appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received from everyone," Hoffman's family said in a statement issued through his publicist.

"This is a tragic and sudden loss and we ask that you respect our privacy during this time of grieving. Please keep Phil in your thoughts and prayers," it added. A representative said the family would not make any further statements for now.

Onlookers gathered on Sunday afternoon near Hoffman's apartment in a four-story red brick building in a fashionable neighborhood of the West Village, where many other actors keep homes. The entire block was cordoned off by police.

Rachel Melman, a neighbor who described herself as a fan, said she frequently saw him around the neighborhood.

"I never spoke to him, but I always wanted to," she said, adding that she would see him sitting on the scaffolding of the building, often dressed in socks and no shoes, "just reading and hanging out out there.

"Of course I'm sad. It was such a shocker," she said.

On Sunday evening, the area surrounding Hoffman's Bethune Street apartment building in lower Manhattan remained cordoned off by crime scene investigators and medical examiners. Hoffman's body was wheeled out of the building at 6:45 p.m.EST and driven away in a medical examiner's van. As soon as police opened the street to the public, mourners began to leave flowers on the stoop.

"I felt like a magnet was dragging me down here," said Holly Kenny, 53, of Fairlee, Vt., who was at a trade show when she heard about the actor's death and arrived on scene clutching a bouquet of white flowers.

CNN, citing a law enforcement official, reported that Hoffman was last seen alive at 8 p.m. Saturday. He had been expected to pick up his children on Sunday but failed to show up, prompting playwright David Katz and another person to go to his apartment, where they found him dead, CNN said.

Hoffman spoke in the past of struggling with drugs, including a 2006 interview in which he told CBS he had at times abused "anything I could get my hands on. I liked it all."

Born in upstate New York near Rochester, Hoffman won the Best Actor Oscar for the 2005 biographical film "Capote," in which he played writer Truman Capote. He also received three Academy Award nominations as best supporting actor, for "The Master" in 2013, "Doubt" in 2009 and "Charlie Wilson's War" in 2008.

After more than a dozen earlier roles, Hoffman burst onto the film scene in 1997's "Boogie Nights," in which he played a lovelorn gay man in a movie about the porn industry that helped make Mark Wahlberg a star.

PORTRAYED DISTURBING CHARACTERS

Hoffman, who brought a workmanlike intensity to his roles, often played characters with innate intelligence and logical minds riven by underlying passion. The blond, thickset actor's on-screen persona could range from professorial to unkempt, from the aloof intellectual to the everyman.

Hoffman appeared in blockbusters such as "Twister" and "The Hunger Games" series. But he was more often associated with the independent film world for his portrayals of often disturbing and complex characters in such films as "Happiness," in which he played an obscene phone caller, and "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead."

In the latter, he played a son who schemes to rob his parents' jewelry store, resulting in their deaths. Hoffman could also play nice, as in his portrayal of an angelic nurse in "Magnolia."

Other noteworthy films included "Moneyball," "The Savages," "Cold Mountain" and "Scent of a Woman," one of his earliest films, which garnered its star, Al Pacino, an Oscar.

Lionsgate, the studio behind "The Hunger Games," called Hoffman "one of the most gifted actors of our generation."

"We're very fortunate that he graced our 'Hunger Games' family. Losing him in his prime is a tragedy, and we send our deepest condolences to Philip's family," the studio said in a statement.

"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" grossed $860 million worldwide and stands out as the most commercially successful movie of his career. He had filmed scenes for two sequels in the blockbuster franchise, which are still in production.

Hiswork was "substantially complete" on "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part I" and he had seven shooting days remaining on "Mockingjay — Part 2," according to a person close to the films who was not authorized to talk to the media. The actor's death will not affect the films' scheduled release in November 2014 and 2015, the person said.

Hoffman also frequently appeared on Broadway, earning Tony award nominations for his role as the main character Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman," and for his parts in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "True West."

"If you missed him as Willy Loman, you missed a Willy Loman for all time," actor Steve Martin said on Twitter on Sunday.

"This is a horrible day for those who worked ‎with Philip," Tom Hanks, who co-starred with him in "Charlie Wilson's War," said in a statement. "He was a giant talent. Our hearts are open for his family."

Jeff Bridges wrote on Facebook he enjoyed acting alongside Hoffman in "The Big Lebowski," in which Hoffman played an overbearing, scheming heir. "He was such a wonderful guy, and so damn talented, a real treasure," Bridges wrote.

Showtime, the cable television network which had just ordered a 10-episode comedy, "Happyish," starring Hoffman and produced by his company, Cooper's Town Productions, mourned the loss of the talented actor.

"Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of our generation's finest and most brilliant actors. He was also a gifted comedic talent. It was a great privilege and pleasure to work with him and we are all absolutely devastated by this sudden loss," it said.

Hoffman appeared last month at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah for the premiere of "A Most Wanted Man," an espionage thriller based on the John le Carre novel in which he played German spy Gunther Bachmann.

At the premiere, Hoffman told Reuters that he connected to Gunther's personality, a man driven by the shame of previous failure into an obsessive pursuit of capturing terrorists by any means necessary.

"I think it'd be hard for anyone not to connect with the loneliness. He's pretty lonely, driven, obsessive guy, unforgiving of himself in a lot of ways. A lot of traits that a lot of people carry in one grade or another," Hoffman said.

Philip Seymour Hoffman didn't really steal scenes. He tugged them, slyly, like a man doing a slow-motion rug trick, to his own corner of the action. He did it time after time, across 50-odd feature films and with a consistent presence on the New York stage. (He worked all over the place; he...